‘No. Not really. I’ve never been that good at… keeping in touch.’ The truth was she always kept her distance. It was a conscious thing and a form of self-preservation but not one she would recommend.

‘Aren’t the people at book club your friends?’ Tom relaxed his muscles and flopped onto his stomach.

‘Hmm.’ It was a reasonable assumption but while the book club ladies were lovely and a vital source of human contact she didn’t know any of them well enough to invite them round for a coffee. ‘There’s nobody I particularly click with.’

‘I know what you mean.’ Tom sat up and crossed his legs. ‘Sometimes you think you have loads of friends. I did when I was at primary school. I thought all the boys in my class were my friends. And then stuff happened and I realised they weren’t friends, they were just boys in my class.’ Tom’s sad eyes stared unblinking at the window. It was one of the many moments she wished she could erase all of his pain. She came out of the plank and mirrored his position.

‘Friends aren’t merely the tumbleweed of faces that roll in and out of your life. Friends are the ones you connect with and who last a lifetime. You’ll pass a million people on your path and just a few will be worth spending time with.’

‘Choose wisely, says Yoda.’ Tom gave a huge grin, but what he’d said was spot on.

*

Saturday morning had been a struggle to tear Tom away from the puppies and onto the bus. The trip to the library would do him good and he had a number of silver surfer sessions booked in so she wasn’t going to let him wimp out. If Farah was there then it would also be a good opportunity for them to face each other. In Maggie’s experience the sooner issues were tackled the better. Those left alone festered for a long time, sometimes even a lifetime.

‘Do you think Penny’s okay? I don’t think her hearing’s as good as Sheldon’s.’ Tom was looking longingly up the driveway as the bus pulled away.

‘I think you’re fussing over those pups. They’re fine when you’re at school all day. Their eyes have just opened and hearing is the last sense to fully develop so their ears are only now starting to work. She’ll be fine.’

‘Have you thought any more about keeping one?’ he asked.

She didn’t need to face him to know he was making eyes bigger than the puppies did. ‘I didn’t think about it in the first place. I don’t need a dog.’